- (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) This appeal has been filed assailing the judgment dated 13.03.2015 of the High Court of Jharkhand dismissing the appellant's Letters Patent Appeal No.309 of 2014, in and by which, the Division Bench affirmed the order of Single Judge directing opening of technical and financial bid of the respondent.
(3.) The matter in dispute relates to construction of a dam in the State of Jharkhand. The facts leading to filing of this appeal are as follows: The proposed project, Kharkai Dam at Icha is a part of Subernarekha Multipurpose Project, a Central Government Aided Scheme funded through the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP). Subernarekha Multipurpose Project is an Inter State project that was sanctioned in the year 1978 with the objective of providing irrigation in Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal. It will also provide water for drinking and industrial purpose as also for production of hydel power. The Water Resources Department, Government of Jharkhand, through its Executive Engineer issued a Notice Inviting Tender (NIT) for the construction of the Dam as per the Standard Bidding Documents (SBD) dated 28.02.2014. On 24.03.2014, a pre-bid meeting was held where ten tenderers participated and during its course, it was observed that in the clauses of the NIT, there were certain departures from the SBD. After the pre-bid meeting, in total, only three bidders namely, M/s CWE-SOMA Consortium, Hyderabad (respondent herein), M/s. IL & FS Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd., Hyderabad and M/s. Navyuga Engineering Co. Ltd., Hyderabad participated in the tender process and submitted their bids. In meetings of the Departmental Tender Committee held on 02.06.2014 and 06.06.2014, it was found that among the three tenderers, only the respondent was found responsive and other two bidders were found unresponsive. Therefore the tender committee took a decision under clause 4.18(d) of the Central Vigilance Commission Guidelines ('CVC Guidelines') to cancel the tender and go for retender to make the tender process more competitive. The tender committee re-affirmed this decision in a meeting held on 09.07.2014 after the Chief Minister referred an application of the respondent to them. Aggrieved thereof, respondent filed a writ petition before the High Court.;